\title{FOSS}
\author{Joseph Barratt}
\date{\today}

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A small school in the Kamloops Thompson school district saved \$30,000 a year on
maintenance, \$5,000 a year on electricity, and a fortune on licensing. They did
all this by switching their computer workstations from Windows to Linux, with
free and open source software, or FOSS (Laden). Soon after, the rest of the
Kamloops Thompson district followed suit, followed by dozens of nearby schools
eager to be a part of the exciting burst of cheap and powerful educational
progress. Open source software has the potential to transform the relationship
between schools and technology, opening doors for students, both while in school
and after they graduate into the rapidly changing landscape of technology. The
success of Linux is a testament to its quality, and it is freely available. So
why do schools spend so much money to churn out Windows users?  Windows and the
closed source mentality has become so entrenched in the public perception of
software that technology is moving on while consumers are stuck in the past.
Over ninety percent of high-end computing systems run Linux and other open
source software, and it's time for the public to become aware of and acquainted
with the system of software that is likely to dominate the very near future
(Laden).  That starts in our schools.

Firstly, we must specify what free and open-source software (FOSS) means. As
Richard Stallman famously puts it, that's ``free as in free speech, not free
beer'' (Stallman). Free software must be usable for any purpose, it must be clear
about exactly what it does and how, it must be freely redistributable, and it
must be freely modifiable (Stallman). These rules require the source code for the
software to be publicly available, hence ``open-source.'' Source code refers to
the text of a program, an expressive and human-understandable language that
translates into software that a computer can run. At first consideration, one
might think that free software would be lower quality than proprietary software.
After all, cheaper is generally shoddier. But free and open source software is
used by almost everyone, whether they know it or not, including high-end
technology companies. Some well-known examples of free and open-source software
are the Google Chrome browser, Firefox, the Apache web server (which runs 59.4
percent of web sites), and Linux (The Register). Apple's Mac OS X, by the way, is an
operating system built on top of FreeBSD---a free and open source UNIX
derivative like Linux. The other night my girlfriend needed to convert a video
file from one format to another, and I suggested using ffmpeg, a free and open
source video conversion tool---a real swiss army knife for dealing with mp4s,
avis, and other formats. She didn't trust it, so she downloaded a proprietary
video converter. Skimming the license, she noticed that it included the GPL
license for, you guessed it, ffmpeg. The program was just a wrapper for the free
software, and it cost money.

While much of the rhetoric surrounding free and open-source software claims it
is a question of ethics, it also turns out that open-source is an excellent
development model. By making code freely available, a global peer review begins
that trumps any in-house scrutiny. Additionally, if people use the software
often, and have the skills to improve it, then they will, and everyone can
benefit. Another strength is its modularization. Modularization is an important
concept in modern software, and it refers to the isolation of specific
components so that they can be plugged into larger frameworks in a flexible way.
This means that if I am writing a program to help people manage their finances,
I'll write a module that computes accounting tasks, a module that stores finance
data, and a final module to display the information and feature set to the user.
Later, if I decide I want to add the accounting tasks to a system that already
stores financial data, I can just plug in my module. Or if I decide that instead
of displaying the data I want to serve it on a web page, I can simply replace
the display module. Closed-source software inhibits this kind of development:
restrict access to code and it loses modular granularity. With open-source
software you can cobble together a new, useful piece of software from existing
modules and fragments. Open-sourced development leads to a huge corpus of
modularized, agile and proven technologies that are easily integrated into
larger projects. Major software companies like Google and Mozilla open-source
all or a subset of their products, just because it turns out to be a superior
development model. While most K-12 students will not become software developers,
the upshot of all this is that free and open source software is not only a
viable software alternative, but a robust, rapidly improving, and often superior
choice.

It also tends to be free, as in free beer. Companies certainly profit from free
software technology, but not by charging for distribution. Google doesn't
develop and advertise its Chrome browser just out of the goodness of its heart.
According to Google's chief financial officer:
\begin{quote}
Chrome is really pushing the Web, and it has a fantastic opportunity that, when
people have adopted Chrome, they basically instead of looking for Google and
looking for search, the Omnibox gives them immediate access to Google search. So
from a strategic perspective, it has that in Chrome OS. On a tactical basis,
everybody that uses Chrome is a guaranteed locked-in user for us in terms of
having access to Google. (Cawrey)
\end{quote}
Canonical, the company that distributes the popular Ubuntu Linux, makes its
money by providing expert service and support for businesses using its software.
So fear not: there is money driving the development, it's just not yours.

The transition is already happening. In 2007 the nation of Russia announced that
all of its schools would begin running Linux software (BBC News). In the
Philippines tens of thousands of Linux desktops were deployed in schools with a
government grant. Every high school in Georgia began using Linux in 2004
(Focus). Closer to home, in 2006 "more than 20,000 Indiana students are now
Linux-enabled under a state grant program to roll out low-cost, easy-to-manage
workstations, which are running various flavors of the open-source operating
system" (Moltzen). Mike Huffman, from the Indiana Department of Education, asked a
student whether he preferred the Linux desktop or a Windows desktop, and the
student responded, ``who cares?'' (Moltzen). For many students, the computing
experience may be more or less the same, but even then schools can save money on
software and put it towards learning. Ideally, the schools would leverage the
corpus of open source educational programs to really open up the experience for
students, but even if they don't the students benefit as the school budget is
better appropriated.

Free software open doors for high schools and their students, but only if it
gets deployed. The problem is awareness: Microsoft's monopoly works because it's
all people know, as their computer was shipped with Windows. There is something
better out there, but its self-promotion is slow. Help our children---write your
school district's leaders, or your state educational board, ask them to consider
saving money and teaching more. Maybe even give Linux a test drive at home,
share it with your friends and family. It's free; you can simply download it and
go. Help it spread, because the public has been strung along by imprisoning and
limiting software companies for too long. Help our children usher in a better
world.

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Works Cited
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``50 Places Running Linux You Might Not Expect.'' Focus. Focus Editors. Web.
http://www.focus.com/fyi/50-places-linux-running-you-might-not-expect/.

``Apache Server Thumps Microsoft and Google • The Register.'' The Register:
Sci/Tech News for the World. Web. 01 Dec. 2011.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/01/05/apache-marketshare-growth/.

``BBC NEWS | Technology | Russian Schools Move to Linux.'' BBC News - Home. 9
Oct.  2007. Web. 01 Dec. 2011.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7034828.stm.

Cawrey, Daniel. ``How Does Chrome Make Profits? Doesn't Matter - It Doesn't Have
To | Thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Forum.''
Thechromesource - Google Chrome and Chrome OS News and Community. 18 Apr. 2011.
Web. 01 Dec. 2011.
http://www.thechromesource.com/how-does-chrome-make-profits-doesnt-matter-it-doesnt-have-to/.

Laden, Greg. ``Linux in Schools : Greg Laden's Blog.'' ScienceBlogs. Web. 01
Dec.  2011. http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2010/09/linux\_in\_schools.php.

Moltzen, Edward F. ``Hoosier Daddy? In Indiana Schools, It's Linux.'' CRN.com.
16 Apr. 2006. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
http://www.crn.com/news/applications-os/192201386/hoosier-daddy-in-indiana-schools-its-linux.htm.

Stallman, Richard. ``What Is Free Software? - GNU Project - Free Software
Foundation (FSF).'' The GNU Operating System. Web. 01 Dec. 2011.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html.

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